Finding Jesus – the severe task of the time.

Invitations can be of different formats and content. Not every invitation will cause us joy, and not every invitation will enrich us. A reasonable person must consider the invitation, reflect on it. To decline an invitation is also a grave matter, especially when we are invited by someone important, possibly to a big event. We hesitate at the beginning of the invitation in many invitations, or ask for time to think about our response.

We are still standing at the beginning of the year. We are in the first week of the year. Jesus Christ invites us to follow him in this civil year: “Follow me!” (Jn 1:43). In the Gospel, the Apostle John records his personal experience when Jesus looked at him and Andrew, who were disciples of John the Baptist, and invited them to follow him. John does not write about this encounter as a witness until later, as an elder, when he was bishop of Ephesus. It must have been a severe invitation to John because he remembers the very hour when it took place: “It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.” (Jn 1:39). We see from the text that the Lord Jesus calls His first disciples after Him. It would seem that the word disciple is a distant address for us. But disciple means as much as Christian. It implies an invitation to follow the Lord Jesus in life. Becoming a Christian is a matter not entirely personal. We see this from the Holy Scriptures. John and Andrew become disciples at the instigation of John the Baptist, and that is when he speaks of Jesus: “Behold the Lamb of God! (Jn 1:36). These words signify a teacher change from John the Baptist towards Jesus, leading them on. The encounter can also be mediated. We know that Andrew brings his brother Simon-Peter to Christ. Philip brings Nathanael to Jesus. But Jesus can also directly address a person who initially has no idea what is happening to him. Think of the tax collector Levi. He wants to see Jesus out of curiosity. So he climbs a fig tree. As Jesus passes by, he stops under the fig tree and addresses Matthew, “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for I must stay in your house today.” (Lk 19:5).

The invitation to become a disciple of Christ, a Christian, is often a mysterious thing for us, yet it is also a great grace to be cherished. It is important to remember that the invitation to come to Jesus is also the definition of a Christian. A Christian comes to Jesus. How we can come to Jesus are various, and yet in Jesus, we find our goal. In prayer, which can be different, in meditation, in the reading of the Holy Scriptures, intercessory prayer…, furthermore, when we hear the words of God and make him present in our lives. When we try to live in our lives in such a way that we do only what we would do even if Jesus were beside us, we know that in God, we live and move and have our being. We try to do only what God would do in our place. Let us try to avoid serious sins. Let us bring others to Jesus by our example. This is what it means to be a Christian and, at the same time, to give the most beautiful response to Jesus’ invitation, “Come and see!” (Jn 1:39).

However, we benefit even more than we are obliged to do so. We know that everything we do for God does not add to his greatness, holiness, and glory. He has all these in sovereign measure. All this goes to our benefit, to our profit. And may this encourage us to fulfill our duties as believing Christians even more fully and responsibly. It is sad when we respond to the invitation of a person who means well, wants to help us, shows us attention and love, with indifference, or when we do not accept his invitation to a good cause, to a helpful meeting, how it hurts that person! Let us realize that when we do not accept the invitation of Jesus, we postpone it; we replace it with something less valuable; what an insult to God! What a sin! Can we call ourselves Christians when we do not accept Christ? Let us use the time of the first week of the new year to contact Christ. John the Baptist seems to be saying to us: Behold the Lamb of God. Behold your Redeemer and Savior. I have shown you the way to him.